Ruger SP101s with 2 1/4 barrel - max accuracy?

[uniballin]

At 25 yards I wasn't able to hit the target (I'm a relatively new shooter and this was my first time firing the gun).

15 yards I was hitting it, but there was no grouping.

7 yards I had a nice grouping.

Am I sucky or is this typical for this gun?

[Rundownfid]

Obviously you sucky. Seriously, snubbies are normally accurate, but very difficult to shoot well. Were you to put the gun in a Ransom rest and shoot a group it would, likely, be as accurate as a longer barreled revolver. However, the short sighting radius and rather rudimentary sights make it difficult to extract this inherent accuracy potential. Practice, and preferably with mild loads, as you don't want recoil to interfere with the process, will help you make the most of your snub.

[Asmodeus6]

At 25 yards I wasn't able to hit the target (I'm a relatively new shooter and this was my first time firing the gun).

15 yards I was hitting it, but there was no grouping.

7 yards I had a nice grouping.

Am I sucky or is this typical for this gun?

These were the same results we just gathered with an LCR. Not an SP101, but also a Ruger, similar sights, and 2" barrel snub.

I could knock the center out of a pasty at 7yds. At 15 it was hit or miss and 25 forget it. Nothing I was shooting at was registering hits.

But that was 2 people both completely new to that pistol.

It was also the second time out with my Glock 26 and I had no problems at any of those distances and even 35yds... so I may suck. But I'm not the worst person to ever pick up a pistol.

[uniballin]

Yea, I have better luck with my Glock 19... I can hit 25 yards with a somewhat decent grouping... usually have a couple "WTF" shots that are completely on the edge of the target.

But I really like this Ruger and want to be proficient enough with it to carry this summer since it's so easy to conceal.

[Noah_Zark]

At 25 yards I wasn't able to hit the target (I'm a relatively new shooter and this was my first time firing the gun).

15 yards I was hitting it, but there was no grouping.

7 yards I had a nice grouping.

Am I sucky or is this typical for this gun?

Your ability doens't "suck" so much as you are inexperienced. Example: When you first got on a bicycle and fell, did that mean you were "sucky" at riding a bike? No. You didn't have the experience.

I have two SP101s with the 2.25" barrels and I have no problem hitting claybirds on edge on the 25 yd berm. That's 75 feet from the bench. But I'm halfway to 110 and have been shooting handguns since the early/mid 1960s.

Suggestions: Learn trigger control with the Ruger. With the revolver empty, sight on a spot on the wall or some other feature across the room and dry fire in single action (cock the hammer, then pull the trigger). New shooters should ALWAYS shoot a double action revolver in single action at first to learn trigger control, IMO.

Watch how the sights shift as the hammer falls. Try positioning your trigger finger on the trigger a bit differently -- instead of placing the pad of your finger on the trigger, put the first joint on the trigger and again dry fire and watch the sights to see where and how they shift. Example: If I shoot a Makarov using the pad of my indel finger on the trigger, I "push" the shots to the left. If I "hook" the first finger joint centered on the Mak trigger, I can bust claybirds on edge at 25 yds or chase empty plastic soda bottles aorund the 25 yd berm all day if ammo permitted.

Practice breathing, too. Breathe normally, but when you get set to fire, stop your breath in mid-EXhale, squeeze the trigger, then release the rest of the breath from your lungs.

Practice your trigger pull, too. DO NOT "jerk" the trigger, but gently s-q-u-e-e-z-e it.

The objective is to learn how to control your breath, trigger finger, grip, etc, so that when the hammer falls, the sights DO NOT shift out of alignment, and don't shift off of the target.

When I was being taught, my instructor had me stick a pencil down the barrel eraser-first, and dry fire at a piece of paper on the wall, aiming at a 1/4" square in the center of the paper. Standing from a foot or two from the wall, when I pulled the trigger, the pencil shot forward from the hammer blow and left a mark on the paper. The mark wasn't necessarily on the 1/4" square, but "shot" after "shot" started forming a group of spots. The purpose of the exercise was to practice enough that the group of pencil lead spots got smaller and smaller in diameter. Try it, it works.

And don't worry about dry firing a centerfire handgun, especially a Ruger. It won't harm it one bit.

Again, you don't "suck" at shooting the Ruger; you just need to practice more and build the skill.

HTH,

Noah

[Rundownfid]

You would be well advised to follow Noah's advice, even though he is just a young pup, he knows what he is talking about.

One other suggestion is to get Crimson trace laser grips and watch that dot move as you squeeze the trigger. A cheaper alternative for practice only is to tape a cheap laser pointer to the barrel it works as well but looks dorky and is of no use in a gun fight.

[Lone Wolf]

Good advice. Just stock up on light Specials and practice what has already been posted. The SP101 is one of my all time favorites. Excellent choice!

[tdyoung58]

At 25 yards I wasn't able to hit the target (I'm a relatively new shooter and this was my first time firing the gun).

15 yards I was hitting it, but there was no grouping.

7 yards I had a nice grouping.

Am I sucky or is this typical for this gun?

You'll get better the more you shoot, the shirter the barrel the harder it is to group good. I have a SP101 with the 3.1 barrel

[jahwarrior72]

what were you shooting in it? .357s or .38s? i got to shoot Bruce's; it's a .357 2" model. i'm not too experienced with revolvers, but i was able to get pretty good groups with it at 25 yards, about 3" groups. at 25', i was dead on, at 1". this was with stnadard pressure .357's. my accuracy suffered a bit shooting hot rounds, though, but i was still getting COM consistently.

[Asmodeus6]

what were you shooting in it? .357s or .38s? i got to shoot Bruce's; it's a .357 2" model. i'm not too experienced with revolvers, but i was able to get pretty good groups with it at 25 yards, about 3" groups. at 25', i was dead on, at 1". this was with stnadard pressure .357's. my accuracy suffered a bit shooting hot rounds, though, but i was still getting COM consistently.

3" groups at 25 yards with a 2" snub. You should get some video the next time you go shooting.